REPORT 


OF  THE 


COMMITTEE  OF  THE  SENATE 


OF 


,  MASSACHUSETTS; 


COMPRISING 


The  President's  Message  of  the  1st  of  June ; — The  Report  of  the 

Committee  of  Foreign  Relations ; — The  Act  Declaring 

War ; — The  Proclamation  of  the  President, 

announcing  that fevfeaj  $T*.  .*        .•"*•:•* 


AND   THE, 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  SENATE  TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THIS 
C  OMMON  WE  ALTH. 


June  26th,  1812.—  Ordered  to  be  printed. 


BOSTON: 

Adams,  RhoadeS)  &  Co.  Printers. 

1812. 


E357 


at 


Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 


THE  committee  of  the  Senate  who  were  appointed  to 
prepare  and  report  an  address  to  their  constituents,  have 
attended  that  service,  and  report  the  address  which  ac 
companies  this  report ;  and  they  ask  leave  to  recom 
mend,  that  the  message  of  the  President  to  both  Houses 
of  Congress  of  the  1st  June  instant,  the  report  or  man 
ifesto  of  both  Houses  which  preceded  the  declaration 
of  war,  the  act  by  which  war  was  declared  to  exist 
between  the  United  Kingdoms  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United 
States  of  America  and  their  territories,  and  the  pro 
clamation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  the 
19th  June  instant,  accompany  said  address,  and  be  con 
sidered  as  part  thereof. 

By  order  of  the  Committee. 

In  Senate,  June  26th,  1812. 

Read  and  accepted,  and  thereupon  ordered  that  the 
Clerk  of  the  Senate  be  directed  to  procure  ten  thousand 
copies  of  the  same  to  be  printed  for  the  use  of  the 
members  of  the  Senate  and  of  their  constituents. 

SAMUEL  DANA,  President. 


M21970 


IMPORTANT 

STATE  PAPERS. 


DECLARATION  OF  WAR. 


WASHINGTON,  JUNE  18,  4  o'clock,  P.  M. 

THE  injunction  of  secresy  was  about  an  hour  ago  removed 
from  the  following  Message,  Report,  and  Act. 

MESSAGE. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Uni 
ted  States. 

\  communicate  to  Congress  certain  documents,  being 
a  continuation  of  those  heretofore  laid  before  them,  on 
the  subject  of  our  affairs  with  Great  Britain. 

Without  going  back  beyond  the  renewal  in  1803  of 
the  war  in  which  G.  Britain  is  engaged,  and  omitting 
unrepaired  wrongs  of  inferior  magnitude,  the  conduct 
of  her  government  presents  a  series  of  acts  hostile  to  the 
United  States  as  an  independent  and  neutral  nation. 

British  cruisers  have  been  in  the  continued  practice  of 
violating  the  American  flag  on  the  great  highway  of  na 
tions,  and  of  seizing  and  carrying  off  persons  sailing  un 
der  it  ;  not  in  the  exercise  of  a  belligerent  right  found 
ed  on  the  law  of  nations,  against  an  enemy,  but  of  a 
municipal  prerogative  over  British  subjects.  British 
jurisdiction  is  thus  extended  to  neutral  vessels  in  a  sit 
uation  where  no  laws  can  operate  but  the  law  of  nations, 
and  the  laws  of  the  country  to  which  the  vessels  be 
long  :  and  a  self  redress  is  assumed,  which  if  British 
subjects  were  wrongfully  detained  and  alone  concerned, 
is  that  substitution  of  force  for  a  resort  to  the  respon 
sible  sovereign,  which  falls  within  the  definition  of  war. 
Could  the  seizure  of  British  subjects,  in  such  cases,  be 

A 


regarded  as  within  the  exercise  of  a  belligerent  right, 
the  acknowledged  laws  of  war,  which  forbid  an  article 
of  captured  property  to  be  adjudged,  without  a  regular 
investigation  be/ore  .a  jcompetent  tribunal,  would  impe- 
riouJiH^dernajsfd:  {he  Jairest  trial,  where  the  sacred  rights 
rfp£ysonstiy£rje;  at.is^us-  In  place  of  such  a  trial,  these 
Wgfe.4  a&js\itijfefct5^\tQ/the  will  of  every  petty  com 
mander. 

The  practice,  hence,  is  so  far  from  affecting  British 
subjects  alone,  that  under  the  pretext  of  searching  for 
these,  thousands  of  American  citizens,  under  the  safe 
guard  of  public  law,  and  of  their  national  flag,  have  been 
torn  from  their  country  and  from  every  thing  dear  to 
them  ;  have  been  dragged  on  board  ships  of  war  of  a 
foreign  nation,  and  exposed,  under  the  severities  of 
their  discipline,  to  be  exiled  to  the  most  distant  arid 
deadly  climes,  to  risk  their  lives  in  the  battles  of  their 
oppressors,  and  to  be  the  melancholy  instruments  of 
taking  away  those  of  their  own  brethren. 

Against  this  crying  enormity,  which  Great  Britain 
would  be  so  prompt  to  avenge  if  committed  against 
herself,  the  U.  States  have  in  vain  exhausted  remon 
strances  and  expostulations.  And  that  no  proof  might 
be  wanting  of  their  conciliatory  dispositions,  and  no 
pretext  left  for  a  continuance  of  the  practice,  the  Brit 
ish  government  was  formally  assured  of  the  readiness 
of  the  U.  States  to  enter  into  arrangements,  such  as 
could  not  be  rejected,  if  the  recovery  of  British  subjects 
were  the  real  and  the  sole  object.  The  communicatiom 
passed  without  effect. 

British  cruisers  have  been  in  the  practice  also  of  viola 
ting  the  rights  and  the  peace  of  our  coasts.  They  hover 
over  and  harass  our  entering  and  departing  commerce. 
To  the  most  insulting  pretensions  they  have  added  the 
most  lawless  proceedings  in  our  very  harbours ;  and  have 
wantonly  spilt  American  blood  within  the  sanctuary  of 
our  territorial  jurisdiction. — The  principles  and  rules 
enforced  by  that  nation,  when  a  neutral  nation,  against 
armed  vessels  of  belligerents  hovering  near  her  coasts, 
and  disturbing  her  commerce,  are  well  known.  When 
oalled  on,  nevertheless,  by  the  U.  States  to  punish  the 
greater  offences  committed  by  her  own  vessels,  her 


government  has  bestowed  on  their  commanders  addi 
tional  marks  of  honour  and  confidence. 

Under  pretended  blockades,  without  the  presence  of  an 
adequate  force,  and  sometimes  without  the  practicability 
of  applying  one,  our  commerce  has  been  plundered  in 
every  sea  ;  the  great  staples  of  our  country  have  been 
cut  off  from  their  legitimate  markets  ;  and  a  destructive 
blow  aimed  at  our  agricultural  and  maritime  interests. 
In  aggravation  of  these  predatory  measures,  they  have 
been  considered  as  in  force  from  the  dates  of  their  noti 
fication  ;  a  retrospective  effect  being  thus  added,  as  has 
been  done  in  other  important  cases,  to  the  unlawfulness 
of  the  course  pursued.  And  to  render  the  outrage  the 
more  signal,  these  mock  blockades  have  been  reiterated 
and  enforced  in  the  face  of  official  communications 
from  the  British  government,  declaring,  as  the  true 
definition  of  a  legal  blockade,  "  that  particular  ports 
must  be  actually  invested,  and  previous  warning  given 
to  vessels  bound  to  them,  not  to  enter." 

Not  content  with  these  occasional  expedients  for  lay 
ing  waste  our  neutral  trade,  the  cabinet  of  Great  Brit 
ain  resorted,  at  length,  to  the  sweeping  system  of  block 
ades,  under  the  name  of  orders  in  council,  which  has 
been  moulded  and  managed,  as  might  best  suit  its  po 
litical  views,  its  commercial  jealousies,  or  the  avidity  of 
British  cruisers. 

To  our  remonstrances  against  the  complicated  and 
transcendent  injustice  of  this  innovation,  the  first  reply 
was  that  the  'orders  were  reluctantly  adopted  by  Great 
Britain  as  a  necessary  retaliation  on  decrees  of  her  ene 
my  proclaiming  a  general  blockade  of  the  British  isles, 
at  a  time  when  the  naval  force  of  that  enemy  dared  not 
to  issue  from  his  own  ports.  She  was  reminded  with 
out  effect,  that  her  own  prior  blockades,  unsupported 
by  an  adequate  naval  force  actually  applied  and  con 
tinued,  were  a  bar  to  this  plea  :  that  executed  edicts 
against  millions  of  our  property  could  not  be  retaliation 
on  edicts  confessedly  impossible  to  be  executed  ;  that 
retaliation,  to  be  just,  should  fall  on  the  party  setting 
the  guilty  example,  not  on  an  innocent  party  which  was 
not  even  chargeable  with  an  acquiescence  in  it, 


When  deprived  of  this  flimsy  veil  for  a  prohibition 
of  our  trade  with  her  enemy,  by  the  repeal  of  his  pro 
hibition  of  our  trade  with  G.  Britain,  her  cabinet,  in- 
stead  of  a  corresponding  repeal  or  a  practical  discon 
tinuance  of  its  orders,  formally  avowed  a  determination 
to  persist  in  them  against  the  United  States,  until  the 
markets  of  her  enemy  should  be  laid  open  to  British 
products  ;  thus  asserting  an  obligation  on  a  neutral 
power  to  require  one  belligerent  to  encourage,  by  its 
internal  regulations,  the  trade  of  another  belligerent  ; 
contradicting  her  own  practice  towards  all  nations  in 
peace  as  well  as  in  war  ;  and  betraying  the  insincerity 
of  those  professions  which  inculcated  a  belief  that,  hav 
ing  resorted  to  her  orders  with  regret,  she  was  anxious 
to  find  an  occasion  for  putting  an  end  to  them. 

Abandoning  still  more  all  respect  for  the  neutral 
rights  of  the  U.  States,  and  for  its  own  consistency,  the 
British  government  now  demands,  as  prerequisites  to  a 
repeal  of  its  orders,  as  they  relate  to  the  United  States, 
that  a  formality  should  be  observed  in  the  repeal  of  the 
French  decrees  nowise  necessary  to  their  termination, 
nor  exemplified  by  British  usage  ;  and  that  the  French 
repeal,  besides  including  that  portion  of  the  decrees 
which  operates  within  a  territorial  jurisdiction  as  well  as 
that  which  operates  on  the  high  seas  against  the  com- 
merce  of  the  United  States,  should  not  be  a  single  spe 
cial  repeal  in  relation  to  the  U.  States,  but  should  be 
extended  to  whatever  other  neutral  nations  unconnect 
ed  with  them  may  be  affected  by  those  decrees. 

And  as  an  additional  insult,  they  are  called  on  for  a 
formal  disavowal  of  conditions  and  pretensions  advanc 
ed  by  the  French  government,  for  which  the  United 
States  are  so  far  from  having  made  themselves  responsi 
ble,  that,  in  official  explanations,  which  have  been  pub 
lished  to  the  world,  and  in  a  correspondence  of  the 
American  minister  at  London  with  the  British  minister 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  such  a  responsibility  was  explicitly 
and  emphatically  disclaimed. 

Jt  has  become  indeed  sufficiently  certain  that  the 
commerce  of  the  United  States  is  to  be  sacrificed,  not 
,as  interfering  with  the  belligerent  rights  of  Great  Brit* 


ain,  not  as  supplying  the  wants  of  her  enemies,  which 
she  herself  supplies  ;  but  as  interfering  with  the  mo 
nopoly  which  she  covets  for  her  own  commerce  and 
navigation.  She  carries  on  a  war  against  the  lawful 
commerce  of  a  friend,  that  she  may  the  better  carry  on 
a  commerce  with  an  enemy,  a  commerce  polluted  by 
the  forgeries  and  perjuries  which  are  for  the  most  part 
the  only  passports  by  which  it  can  succeed. 

Anxious  to  make  every  experiment  short  of  the  last 
resort  of  injured  nations,  the  United  States  have  with 
held  from  Great-Britain,  under  successive  modifications, 
the  benefits  of  a  free  intercourse  with  their  market,  the 
loss  of  which  could  not  but  outweigh  the  profits  accru 
ing  from  her  restrictions  of  our  commerce  with  other 
nations.  And  to  entitle  these  experiments  to  the  more 
favourable  consideration,  they  were  so  framed  as  to  ena 
ble  her  to  place  her  adversary  under  the  exclusive  ope 
ration  of  them.  To  these  appeals  her  government  has 
been  equally  inflexible,  as  if  willing  to  make  sacrifices 
of  every  sort,  rather  than  yield  to  the  claims  of  justice 
or  renounce  the  errors  of  a  false  pride.  Nay,  so  far 
were  the  attempts  carried  to  overcome  the  attachment 
of  the  British  cabinet,  to  its  unjust  edicts,  that  it  re 
ceived  every  encouragement  within  the  competency  of 
the  executive  branch  of  our  government,  to  expect 
that  a  repeal  of  them  would  be  followed  by  a  war  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  France,  unless  the  French 
edicts  should  also  be  repealed.  Even  this  communica 
tion,  although  silencing  for  ever  the  plea  of  a  disposi 
tion  in  the  United  States  to  acquiesce  in  those  edicts, 
originally  the  sole  plea  for  them,  received  no  attention. 

If  no  other  proof  existed  of  a  predetermination  of  the 
British  government  against  a  repeal  of  its  orders,  it 
might  be  found  in  the  correspondence  of  the  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  of  the  United  States  at  London,  and 
the  British  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  1810,  on 
the  question  whether  the  blockade  of  May  1806  was 
considered  as  in  force  or  as  not  in  force.  It  had  been  as 
certained  that  the  French  government,  which  urged  this 
blockade  as  the  ground  of  its  Berlin  decree,  was  willing, 
in  the  event  of  its  removal,  to  repeal  that  decree  ;  which 


being  followed  by  alternate  repeals  of  the  other  offensive 
edicts,  might  abolish  the  whole  system  on  both  sides. 
This  inviting  opportunity  for  accomplishing  an  object  so 
important  to  the  United  States,  and  professed  so  often 
to  be  the  desire  of  both  the  belligerents,  was  made 
known  to  the  British  government.  As  that  government 
admits  that  an  actiul  application  of  an  adequate  force  is 
necessary  to  the  existence  of  a  legal  blockade,  and  it 
was  notorious,  that  if  such  a  force  had  ever  been  applied, 
its  long  discontinuance  hid  annulled  the  blockade  in 
question,  there  could  be  no  sufficient  objection  on  the 
part  of  Gre.it  Britain  to  a  fcrm  il  revocation  of  it  ;  and 
no  imaginable  objection  to  a  declaration  of  the  fact  that 
the  blockade  did  not  exist.  The  declaration  would 
have  been  consistent  with  her  avowed  principles  of 
blockade,  and  would  have  enabled  the  U.  S.  to  demand 
from  France  the  pledged  repeal  of  her  decrees  ;  either 
with  success,  in  which  case  the  way  would  have  been 
opened  for  a  general  repeal  of  the  belligerent  edicts  ;  or 
without  success,  in  which  case  the  U.  States  would  have 
been  justified  in  turning  their  measures  exclusively 
agiinst  France.  The  British  government  would,  how* 
ever,  neither  rescind  trie  blockade  nor  declare  its  non- 
existence  ;  nor  permit  its  non-existence  to  be  inferred 
and  affirmed  by  the  American  Plenipotentiary. — On  the 
contrary  by  representing  the  blockade  to  be  comprehen 
ded  in  the  orders  in  council,  the  United  States  were  com 
pelled  so  to  regard  it  in  their  subsequent  proceedings. 

There  was  a  period  when  a  favourable  change  in  the 
policy  of  the  British  cabinet  was  justly  considered  as  es 
tablished.  The  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  His  Botanic 
Majesty  here  proposed  an  adjustment  of  the  differences 
more  immediately  endangering  the  harmony  of  the  two 
countries.  Tiie  proposition  was  accepted  with  a  promp 
titude  and  cordiality  corresponding  with  the  invariable 
professions  of  this  government.  A  foundation  appeared 
to  be  laid  for  a  sincere  and  lasting  reconciliation.  The 
prospect,  however,  quickly  vanished.  The  whole  pro 
ceeding  was  disavowed  "by  the  British  government 
without  any  explanation  which  could  at  that  time  re 
press  the  belief,  that  the  disavowal  proceeded  from  a 


/    11 

spirit  of  hostility  to  the  commercial  rights  and  prosperi 
ty  of  the  United  States.  And  it  has  since  come  into 
proof,  that  at  the  very  moment  when  the  public  Minis 
ter  was  holding  the  language  of  friendship, and  inspiring 
confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  the  negotiation  with  which 
he  was  charged,  a  secret  agent  of  his  government  was 
employed  in  intrigues,  having  for  their  object  a  sub 
version  of  our  government  and  a  dismemberment  of  our 
happy  Union. 

In  reviewing  the  conduct  of  GreatBritain  towards  the 
United  States,  our  attention  is  necessarily  drawn  to  the 
warfare  just  renewed  by  the  savages  on  one  of  our  ex 
tensive  frontiers  ;  a  warfare  which  is  known  to  spare 
neither  age  nor  sex,  and  to  be  distinguished  by  features 
peculiarly  shocking  to  humanity.  It  is  difficult  to  ac 
count  for  the  activity  and  combinations  which  have  for 
some  time  been  developing  themselves  among  the  tribes 
in  constant  intercourse  with  British  traders  and  garri 
sons,  without  connecting  their  hostility  with  that  influ 
ence  ;  and  without  recollecting  the  authenticated  ex 
amples  of  such  interpositions  heretofore  furnished  br 
the  officers  and  agents  of  that  government. 

Such  is  the  spectacle  of  injuries  and  indignities  which 
have  been  heaped  on  our  country  ;  and  such  the  crisis 
which  its  unexampled  forbearance  and  conciliatory 
efforts  have  not  been  able  to  avert.  It  might  at  least 
have  been  expected,  that  an  enlightened  nation,  h 
urged  by  moral  obligations,  or  invited  by  friendly  dis 
positions  on  the  part  of  the  U.  S.  would  have  found  in 
its  true  interests  alone  a  sufficient  motive  to  respect 
their  rights  and  their  tranquillity  on  the  high  seas  ;  that 
an  enlarged  policy  would  have  favoured  that  free  and 
general  circulation  of  commerce,  in  which  the  British 
nation  is  at  all  times  interested,  and  which  in  times  of 
war  is  the  best  alleviation  of  its  calamities  to  herself,  as 
well  as  to  other  belligerents  ;  and  "more  especially  that 
the  British  Cabinet  would  not,  for  the  sake  of  a  precari 
ous  and  surreptitious  intercourse  with  hostile  markets, 
have  persevered  in  a  course  of  measures  which  necessa 
rily  put  at  hazard  the  invaluable  market  of  a  great  and 
growing  country,  disposed  to  cultivate  the  mutual  ad 
vantages  of  an  active  cemmerce. 


12 

Other  councils  have  prevailed.  Our  moderation  and 
conciliation,  have  had  no  other  effect  than  to  encourage 
perseverance,  and  to  enlarge  pretensions.  We  behold 
our  seafaring  citizens  still  the  daily  victims  of  lawless 
violence  committed  on  the  great  common  and  highway 
of  nations,  even  within  sight  of  the  country  which  owes 
them  protection.  We  behold  our  vessels  freighted  with 
the  products  of  our  soil  and  industry,  or  returning  with 
the  honest  proceeds  of  them,  wrested  from  their  lawful 
destinations,  confiscated  by  prize  courts  no  longer  the 
the  organs  of  public  law,  but  the  instruments  of  arbitrary 
edicts  ;  and  their  unfortunate  crews  dispersed  and  lost, 
or  forced  or  inveigled  in  British  ports  into  British  fleets  : 
whilst  arguments  are  employed,  in  support  of  these 
aggressions,  which  have  no  foundation  but  in  a  principle 
equally  supporting  a  claim  to  regulate  our  external  com 
merce  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

We  behold,  in  fine,  on  the  side  of  G.  Britain,  a  state 
of  war  against  the  United  States  ;  and  on  the  side  of  the 
United  States  a  state  of  peace  towards  Great  Britain. 

Whether  the  United  States  shall  continue  passive  un 
der  these  progressive  usurpations,  and  these  accumula 
ting  wrongs  ;  or,  opposing  force  to  force  in  defence  of 
their  natural  rights,  shall  commit  a  just  cause  into  the 
hands  of  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  events,  avoiding  all 
connections  which  might  entangle  it  in  the  contests  or 
views  of  other  powers,  and  preserving  a  constant  readi 
ness  to  concur  in  an  honorable  re-establishment  of  peace 
and  friendship,  is  a  solemn  question,  which  the  consti 
tution  wisely  confides  to  the  Legislative  Department  of 
the  government  :  In  recommending  it  to  their  early  de 
liberation,  I  am  happy  in  the  assurance  that  the  decision 
will  be  worthy  the  enlightened  and  patriotic  councils  of 
a  virtuous,  a  free,  and  a  powerful  nation. 

Having  presented  this  view  of  the  relations  of  the  Uni 
ted  States  with  Great  Britain  and  of  the  solemn  alterna 
tive  growing  out  of  them,  I  proceed  to  remark  that  the 
communication  last  made  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
our  relations  with  France  will  have  shown  that  since  the 
revocation  of  her  decrees  as  they  violated  the  neutral 
rights  of  the  U.  States,  her  government  has  authorised 


13 

illegal  captures,by  its  privateers  and  public  ships,and  that 
other  outrages  have  been  practised  on  our  vessels  and 
our  citizens.  It  will  have  been  seen  also,  that  no  indem 
nity  had  been  provided,  or  satisfactory  pledge  for  the 
extensive  spoliations  committed  under  the  violent  and 
retrospective  orders  of  the  French  government  against 
the  property  of  our  citizens  seized  within  the  jurisdic 
tion  of  France. 

I  abstain  at  this  time  from  recommending  to  the  con 
sideration  of  Congress  definitive  measures  with  respect 
to  that  nation,  in  the  expectation,  that  the  result  of  un 
closed  discussions  between  our  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
at  Paris  and  the  French  government  will  speedily  enable 
Congress  to  decide,  with  greater  advantage  on  the 
course  due  to  the  rights,  the  interests,  and  the  honour 
of  our  country.  JAMES  MADISON, 

Washington ,  June  1,  1812. 


REPORT. 

The  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  to  ivhom  was  re* 
ferred  the  Message   of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  of  the  1st  of  June,  1812, 

TIE  PORT- 
THAT  after  the  experience  which  the  United  states  have  had 
of  the  great  injustice  of  the  British  government  towards  them,  ex 
emplified  by  s>o  many  acts  of  violence  and  oppression,  it  \\ili  be 
more  difficult  to  justify  to  the  impartial  world  their  patient  forbear 
ance,  than  the  measures  to  which  it  has  become  necessary  to  resort, 
to  avenge  the  wrongs,  and  vindicate  the  rights  and  honor  of  the 
nation.  Your  committee  are  ru.ppy  to  observe,  on  a  dispassionate 
review  of  the  conduct  of  the  United  Stales,  that  they  see  in  it  no 
cause  for  censure. 

If  a  long  forbearance  under  injuries  ought  ever  to  be  considered 
a  virtue  in  any  nation,  it  is  one  which  peculiarly  becomes  the 
United  States.  No  people  ever  had  stronger  motives  to  cheiish 
peace  ;  none  have  ever  cherished  it  with  greater  sincerity  and  zeal. 
But  the  period  has  now  arrived,  \vhen  the  United  States  must 
support  their  character  and  station  among  the  nations  of  the  ecirth, 
or  submit  to  the  most  shameful  degradation.  Forbearance  has 
ceased  to  be  a  virtue.  War  on  the  one  side,  and  peace  on  the  other, 
is  a  situation  as  ruinous  as  it  is  disgraceful.  The  mad  ambition, 
the  lust  of  power,  and  commercial  avarice  of  Great  Britain,  arroga* 
ting  to  herself  the  complete  dominion  of  the  Ocean,  and  exercising 


14 

over  it  an  unbounded  and  lawless  tyranny,  have  left  to  neutral  na* 
lions  an  alternative  only,  between  the  base  surrender  of  their  rights, 
and  a  manly  vindication  of  them.  Happily  for  ti;e  United  States, 
their  destiny,  under  the  aid  of  Heaven,  is  in  their  own  hands.  The 
crisis  is  formidable  only,  by  their  love  of  peace.  As  soon  as  it  be 
comes  a  duty  to  relinquish  that  situation,  danger  disappears.  They 
have  suffered  no  wrongs,  they  have  received  no  insults,  however 
great,  for  which  they  cannot  obtain  redress. 

More  than  seven  years  have  elapsed,  since  the  commencement 
of  this  system  of  hostile  aggression,  by  the  British  government,  on 
the  lights  and  interests  of  the  U.  States.  The  manner  of  its  com 
mencement  was  not  less  hostile,  than  the  spirit  with  which  it  has 
been. prosecuted.  The  U.  States  have  invariably  done  every  thing 
in  their  power  to  preserve  the  relations  of  friendship  with  Great 
Britain.  Of  this  disposition  they  gave  a  distinguished  proof,  at  the 
moment  when  they  were  made  the  victims  of  an  opposite  policy. 
The  wrongs  of  the  last  war  had  not  been  forgotten  at  the  commence 
ment  of  the  present  one.  They  warned  us  of  dangers,  against 
which  it  was  sought  to  provide.  As  early  as  the  year  1804,  the 
Minister  of  the  U.  States  at  London  was  instructed,  to  invite  the 
British  government  to  enter  into  a  negociation  on  all  the  points  on 
which  a  collision  might  arise  between  the  two  countries,  in  the 
course  of  the  war,  and  to  propose  to  it  an  arrangement  of  their 
claims  on  fair  and  reasonable  conditions.  The  invitation  was  ac 
cepted.  A  negociation  had  commenced  and  was  depending,  and 
nothing  had  occurred  to  excite  a  doubt  that  it  would  not  terminate  to 
the  satisfaction  of  both  the  parties.  It  was  at  this  time,  and  under 
these  circumstances,  that  an  attack  was  made,  by  surprise*  on  an 
important  branch  of  the  American  commerce,  which  affected  every 
part  of  the  United  States,  and  involved  many  of  their  citizens  in 
ruin. 

The  commerce  on  which  this  attack  was  so  unexpectedly  made, 
was  between  the  United  States  and  the  colonies  of  France,  Spain, 
and  other  enemies  of  Great  Britain.  A  commerce  just  in  itself  ; 
sanctioned  by  the  example  of  G.  Britain  in  regard  to  the  trade 
with  her  own  colonies  ;  sanctioned  by  a  solemn  act  between  the 
two  governments  in  the  last  war  ;  and  sanctioned  by  the  practice 
of  the  British  government  in  the  present  war,  more  than  two  years 
having  then  elapsed,  without  any  interference  with  it. 

The  injustice  of  this  attack  could  only  be  equalled  by  the  absurd 
ity  of  the  pretext  alleged  for  it.  It  was  pretended  by  the  British 
government,  that  in  case  of  war,  her  enemy  had  no  right  to  modify 
its  colonial  regulations,  so  as  to  mitigate  the  calamities  of  war  to  the 
inhabitants  of  its  colonies.  This  pretension,  peculiar  to  Great 
Britain,  is  utterly  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  sovereignty  in 
every  independent  state.  If  we  recur  to  the  well  established  and 
universally  admitted  law  of  nations,  we  shall  find  no  sanction  to  it, 
in  that  venerable  code.  The  sovereignty  of  every  state  is  co-exten 
sive  with  its  dominions,  and  cannot  be  abrogated,  or  curtailed  in  its 
rights,  as  to  any  part,  except  by  conquest.  Neutral  nations  have  a 
right  to  trade  to  every  port  of  either  belligerent,  which  is  not  legal- 


15 

iy  blockaded  ;  and  in  all  articles  \vhich  are  not  contraband  of  war. 
Such  is  the  absurdity  of  this  pretension,  that  your  committee  are 
aware,  especially  after  the  able  manner  in  which  it  has  been  hereto 
fore  refuted,  and  exposed,  that  they  would  offer  an  insult  to  the 
understanding  of  the  House,  if  they  enlarged  on  it,  and  if  any  thing 
could  add  to  the  high  sense  of  the  injustice  of  the  British  govern 
ment  in  the  transaction,  it  would  be  the  contrast  which  her  conduct 
exhibits  in  regard  to  this  trade,  and  in  regard  to  a  similar  trade  by 
neutrals  with  her  own  colonies.  It  is  known  to  the  world,  that  G. 
Britain  regulates  her  own  trade,  in  war  and  in  peace,  at  home  and 
in  her  colonies,  as  she  finds  for  her  interest — that  in  war  she  relax 
es  the  restraints  of  her  colonial  system  in  favour  of  the  colonies, 
and  that  it  never  was  suggested  that  she  had  not  a  right  to  do  it  ; 
or  that  a  neutral  in  taking  advantage  of  the  relaxation  violated  a 
belligerent  right  of  her  enemy.  But  with  G.  Britain  every  thing  is 
lawful.  It  is  only  in  a  trade  with  her  enemies  that  the  U.  States 
can  do  wrong.  With  them  all  trade  is  unlawful. 

In  the  year  1793  an  attack  was  made  by  the  British  government 
on  the  same  branch  of  our  neutral  trade,  which  had  nearly  involved 
the  two  countries  in  war.  That  difference  however  was  amicably 
accommodated.  The  pretension  was  withdrawn,  and  reparation 
made  to  the  United  States  for  the  losses  which  they  had  suffered 
by  it.  It  was  fair  to  infer  from  that  arrangement  that  the  com 
merce  was  deemed  by  the  British  government  lawful,  and  that  it 
would  not  be  again  disturbed. 

Had  the  British  government  been  resolved  to  contest  this  trade 
with  neutrals,  it  was  due  to  the  character  of  the  British  nation  that 
the  decision  should  be  made  known  to  the  government  of  the  Uni 
ted  States.  The  existence  of  a  negociation  which  had  been  invited 
by  our  government,  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  differences  by 
an  amicable  arrangement  of  their  respective  pretensions,  gave  a 
strong  claim  to  the  notification,  while  it  afforded  the  fairest  oppor 
tunity  for  it.  But  a  very  different  policy  animated  the  then  Cabi 
net  of  England.  The  liberal  confidence  and  friendly  overtures  of 
the  United  States  were  taken  advantage  of  to  ensnare  them.  Steady 
to  its  purpose  and  inflexibly  hostile  to  this  country,  the  British  gov 
ernment  calmly  looked  forward  to  the  moment,  when  it  might  give 
the  most  deadly  wound  to  our  interests.  A  trade,  just  in  itself, 
which  was  secured  by  so  many  strong  and  sacred  pledges,  was"con» 
sidered  safe.  Our  citizens  with  their  usual  industry  and  enterprize 
had  embarked  in  it  a  vast  proportion  of  their  shipping,  and  of  their 
capital,  which  were  at  sea,  under  no  other  protection  than  the  law 
of  nations,  and  the  confidence  which  they  reposed  in  the  justice 
and  friendship  of  the  British  nation.  At  this  period  the  unexpect 
ed  blow  was  given.  Many  of  our  vessels  were  seized,  carried  into 
port  and  condemned  by  a  tribunal,  which,  while  it  professes  to  re 
spect  the  law  of  nations,  obeys  the  mandates  of  its  own  govern 
ment.  Hundreds  of  other  vessels  were  driven  from  the  ocean,  and 
the  trade  itself  in  a  great  measure  suppressed.  The  effect  pro 
duced  by  this  attack  on  the  lawful  commerce  of  the  United  States 
was  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from  a  virtuous,  indepen- 


16 

dent  and  highly  injured  people.  But  one  sentiment  pervaded  the 
whole  American  nation.  No  local  interests  were  regarded  ;  no 
sordid  moiives  felt.  Without  looking  to  the  parts  which  suffered 
most,  the  invasion  of  our  rights  was  considered  a  common  cause, 
and  from  one  extremity  of  our  Union  to  the  other,  was  heard  the 
voice  of  a  united  people,  calling  ori  their  government  to  avenge 
their  wrongs,  and  vindicate  the  rights  and  honour  of  the  country. 

From  this  period  the  British  government  has  gone  on  in  a  con 
tinued  encroachment  on  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United 
States,  disregarding  in  its  course,  in  many  instances,  obligations 
which  have  heretofore  been  held  sacred  by  civilized  nations. 

In  May,  1806,  the  whole  coast  of  the  continent  from  the  Elbe  to 
Brest  inclusive,  was  declared  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade.  By  this 
act,  the  well-established  principles  of  the  law  of  nations,  principles 
which  have  served  for  ages  as  guides,  and  fixed  the  boundary  be 
tween  the  rights  of  belligerents  and  neutrals,  were  violated  :  By  the 
law  of  nations,  as  recognized  by  Great  Britain  herself,  no  blockade 
is  lawful,  unless  it  be  sustained  by  the  application  of  an  adequate 
force,  and  that  an  adequate  force  was  applied  to  this  blockade,  in 
its  full  extent,  ought  not  to  be  pretended.  Whether  Great  Britain 
was  able  to  m.iintain,  legally,  so  extensive  a  blockade,  considering- 
the  war  in  which  she  is  engaged,  requiring  such  extensive  navai 
operations,  is  a  question  which  it  is  not  necessary  at  this  time  to 
examine.  It  is  sufficient  to  be  known,  that  such  force  was  not  ap 
plied,  and  this  is  evident  from  the  terras  of  the  blockade  itself,  by 
which,  comparatively,  an  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  coast  only 
was  declared  to  be  in  a  state  of  strict  and  rigorous  blockade.  The 
objection  to  the  measure  is  not  diminished  by  that  circumstance. 
If  the  force  was  not  applied,  the  blockade  was  unlawful  from  what 
ever  cause  the  failure  might  proceed.  The  belligerent  who  insti 
tutes  the  blockade  cannot  absolve  itself  from  the  obligation  to  ap 
ply  the  force  under  any  pretext  whatever.  For  a  belligerent  to 
relax  a  blockade,  which  it  could  not  maintain,  it  would  be  a  refine 
ment  in  injustice,  not  less  insulting  to  the  understanding  than  re 
pugnant  to  the  law  of  nations.  To  claim  merit  for  the  mitigation 
of  an  evil,  which  the  party  either  had  not  the  power  or  found  it 
inconvenient  to  inflict,  would  be  a  new  mode  of  encroaching  on 
neutral  rights.  Your  committee  think  it  just  to  remark  that  this 
act  of  the  British  government  does  not  appear  to  have  been  adopted 
in  the  sense  in  which  it  has  been  since  construed.  On  consider 
ation  of  all  the  circumstances  attending  the  measure,  and  particu 
larly  the  character  of  the  distinguished  statesman  who  announced 
it,  we  are  persuaded  that  it  was  conceived  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation, 
and  intended  to  lead  to  an  accommodation  of  all  differences  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  His  death  disappoint 
ed  that  hope,  and  the  act  has  since  become  subservient  to  other 
purposes.  It  has  been  made  by  his  successors,  a  pretext  for  that 
vast  system  of  usurpation,  which  has  so  long  oppressed  and  har 
assed  our  commerce. 

The  next  act  of  the  British  government  which  claims  our  at- 
tendon.}  is  the  order  of  council  of  January  7,  1807,  by  which  neti- 


1? 

tral  powers  are  prohibited  trading  from  one  port  to  another  of 
France  or  her  allies,  or  any  other  country,  with  which  Great  Bri 
tain  might  not  freely  trade.  By  this  order  the  pretension  of  Eng 
land,  heretofore  claimed  by  every  other  power,  to  prohibit  neutrals 
disposing  of  parts  of  their  cargoes  at  different  ports  of  the  same 
enemy,  is  revived,  and  Vvith  vast  accumulation  of  injury.  Every 
enemy,  however  great  the  number,  or  distant  from  each  other,  is 
considered  one,  and  the  like  trade,  even  with  powers  at  peace  with 
England,  who  from  motives  of  policy  had  excluded  or  restrained 
her  commerce,  was  also  prohibited.  In  this  act  the  British  gov 
ernment  evidently  disclaimed  all  regard  for  neutral  rights.  Aware 
that  the  measures  authorised  by  it  could  find  no  pretext  in  any 
belligerent  right,  none  was  urged.  To  prohibit  the  sale  of  our 
produce,  consisting  of  innocent  articles,  at  any  port  of  a  belligerent, 
not  blockaded,  to  consider  every  belligerent  as  one*  and  subject 
neutrals  to  the  same  restraints  with  all,  as  if  there  was  but  one, 
were  bold  encroachments.  But  to  restrain  or  in  any  manner  in 
terfere  with  our  commerce  with  neutral  nations  with  whom  Great 
Britain  was  at  peace,  and  against  whom  she  had  no  justifiable  cause 
of  war,  for  the  sole  reason,  that  they  restrained  or  excluded  from 
their  ports  her  commerce,  was  utterly  incompatible  with  the  paci 
fic  relations  subsisting  between  the  two  countries. 

We  proceed  to  bring  into  view  the  British  Order  in  Council  of 
November  llth,  1807,  which  superceded  every  other  order,  and 
consummated  that  system  of  hostility  on  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  which  has  been  since  so  steadily  pursued.  By  this 
order  all  France  and  her  allies  and  every  other  country  at  war 
with  Great  Britain,  or  with  which  she  was  not  at  war,  from  which 
the  British  flag  was  excluded,  and  all  the  colonies  of  her  enemies, 
were  subjected  to  the  same  restrictions  as  if  they  were  actually 
blockaded  in  the  most  strict  and  rigorous  manner,  and  all  trade  in 
articles  the  produce  and  manufacture  of  the  said  countries  and  col 
onies,  and  the  vessels  engaged  in  it,  were  subjected  to  capture  and 
condemnation  as  lawful  prize.  To  this  order  certain  exceptions 
were  made  which  we  forbear  to  notice,  because  they  were  not 
adopted  from  a  regard  to  neutral  rights,  but  were  dictated  by  poli- 
cy  to  promote  the  commerce  of  England,  and  so  far  as  they  re 
lated  to  neutral  powers,  were  said  to  emanate  from  the  clemency 
of  the  British  government. 

It  would  be  superfluous  in  your  committee  to  state,  that  by  this 
order  the  British  government  declared  direct  and  positive  war  a- 
gainst  the  United  States.  The  dominion  of  the  ocean  was  com 
pletely  usurped  by  it,  all  commerce  forbidden,  and  every  flag  driven 
from  it  or  subjected  to  capture  and  condemnation,  which  did  not 
subserve  the  policy  of  the  British  government,  by  paying  it  a  trib 
ute  and  sailing  under  its  sanction.  From  this  period  the  United 
States  have  incurred  the  heaviest  losses  and  most  mortifying  hu 
miliations.  They  have  borne  the  calamities  of  war  without  retort 
ing  them  on  its  authors. 

So  far  your  committee  has  presented  to  the  view  of  the  House 
the  aggressions  which  have  been  committed  under  the  authority 


18 

of  the  British  government  on  the  commerce  of  the  United  States. 
—We  will  now  proceed  to  other  wrongs  which  have  been  still 
more  severely  felt.  Among  these  is  the  impressment  of  our  sea- 
nun,  a  practice  which  Ins  been  unceasingly  maintained  by  Great 
Britain  in  the  wars  to  which  she  has  been  a  party  since  our  revoki- 
tion.  Your  coTMiittee  cannot  convey  in  adequate  terms  the  deep 
sense  w  lich  thev  entertain  of  the  injustice  and  oppression  of  this 
proceeding.  Under  the  pretext  of  impressing  British  seamen, 
our  fellow  citizens  are  seized  in  British  p  >rts,  on  the  high  seas,  and 
in  every  ut  ler  quarter  to  w  lien  the  British  power  extends,  are 
taken  on  board  British  men  of  war,  and  compelled  to  serve  there  as 
British  subjects.  In  this  mjJe  our  citizens  are  wantonly  snatched 
from  their  country  and  their  families,  deprived  of  their  liberty  and 
doomed  to  an  ignominious  and  slavish  bondage,  compelled  to  fight 

the  bmles  of  a  foreign  country,  and  often  to  perish  in  them Our 

flag  has  given  them  no  protection  ;  it  has  been  unceasingly  viola 
ted,  and  our  vessels*  exposed  to  danger  by  the  loss  of  the  men  taken 
from  them. 

Your  committee  need  not  remark  that  while  the  practice  is 
continued,  it  is  impossible  for  the  United  States  to  consider  them 
selves  an  independent  nation. — Every  new  case  is  a  new  proof  of 
their  degradation.  Its  continuance  is  the  more  unjustifiable,  be 
cause  the  United  States  have  repeatedly  proposed  to  the  British 
Government,  an  arrangement  which  would  secure  to  it  the  con- 
troul  of  its' own  people.  An  exemption  of  the  citizens  of  the  Uni 
ted  Slates  from  this  degrading  oppression,  and  their  flag  from  vio 
lation,  is  all  that  they  have  sought. 

This  lawless  waste  of  our  trade  and  equally  unlawful  impress 
ment  of  our  seamen,  have  been  much  aggravated  by  the  insults  and 
indignities  attending  them  Under  the  pretext  of  blockading  the 
harbors  of  France  and  her  allies,  British  squadrons  have  been  sta 
tioned  on  our  own  coast,  to  watch  and  annoy  our  own  trade.  To 
give  effect  to  the"  blockade  of  European  ports,  the  ports  and  har 
bors  of  the  United  States  have  been  blockaded.  In  executing  these 
orders  of  the  British  government,  or  in  obeying  the  spirit  which 
was  known  to  animate  it,  the  conviunders  of  these  squadrons  have 
encroached  on  our  jurisdiction,  seized  our  vessels,  and  carried  into 
effect  impressments  within  our  limits,  and  done  other  acts  of  great 
injustice,  violence,  and  oppression.  The  U.  States  have  seen, 
with  mingled  indignation  and  surprise,  that  these  acts,  instead  of 
procuring  to  the  perpetrators  the  punishment  clue  to  unauthorized 
crimes,  have  not  failed  to  recommend  them  to  the  favour  of  their 
government. 

Whether  the  British  government  has  contributed  by  active 
measures  to  excite  against  us  the  hostility  of  the  savage  tribes  ou 
our  frontiers,  your  committee  are  not  disposed  to  occupy  much 
time  in  investigating.  Certain  indications  of  general  notoriety 
may  supply  the  place  of  authentic  documents  ;  though  these  have 
not  been  wanting  to  establish  the  fact  in  some  instances.  It  is 
known  that  symptoms  of  British  hostility  towards  the  U.  States 


19 

have   never  failed   to  produce  corresponding   symptoms   among 
those  tribes. 

It  is  also  well  known  that  on  all  such  occasions,  abundant  sup 
plies  of  the  ordinary  munitions  of  war  have  btcn  afforded  by  the 
agents  of  British  commercial  companies,  and  even  from  British 
garrisons,  wherewith  they  were  enabled  to  commence  that  system 
of  savage  warfare  on  our  frontiers,  which  has  been  at  all  times  in 
discriminate  in  its  effect,  on  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions,  and  so 
revolting  to  humanity. 

Your  committee  would  be  much  gratified  if  they  could  close  here 
the  detail  of  British  wrongs  ;  but  it  is  their  duty  to  recite  another 
act  of  still  greater  malignity,  than  any  of  those  which  have  been  al 
ready  brought  to  your  view.  The  attempt  to  dismember  our 
Union  and  overthrow  our  excellent  constitution,  by  a  secret  mis 
sion,  the  object  of  which  was  to  foment  discontents  and  excite  in 
surrection  against  the  constituted  authorities  and  laws  of  the  na 
tion,  as  lately  disclosed  by  the  agent  employed  in  it,  affords  full 
proof  that  there  is  no  bound  to  the  hostility  of  the  British  govern 
ment  towards  the  United  States — no  act,  however  unjustifiable, 
which  it  would  not  commit  to  accomplish  their  ruin.  This  at 
tempt  excites  the  greater  horror  from  the  consideration  that  it  was 
made  while  the  U.  States  and  G.  Britain  were  at  peace,  and  an 
amicable  negociation  was  depending  detween  them  for  the  accom 
modation  of  their  differences  through  public  ministers  regularly 
authorised  for  the  purpose. 

The  U.  States  have  beheld,  with  unexampled  forbearance,  this 
continued  series  of  hostile  encroachments  on  their  rights  and  in 
terests,  in  the  hope,  that,  yielding  to  the  force  of  friendly  remon 
strances,  often  repeated,  the  British  government  might  adopt  a 
more  just  policy  towards  them  ;  but  that  hope  no  longer  exists. 
They  have  also  weighed  impartially  the  reasons  which  have  been 
urged  by  the  British  government  in  vindication  of  these  encroach 
ments,  and  found  in  them  neither  justification  or  apology. 

The  British  government  has  alleged  in  vindication  of  the  or 
ders  in  council  that  they  were  resorted  to  as  a  retaliation  on  France 
for  similar  aggressions  committed  by  her  on  our  neutral  trade 
with  the  British  dominions.  But  how  has  this  plea  been  support 
ed  ?  The  dates  of  British  and  French  aggressions  are  well 
known  to  the  world.  Their  origin  and  progress  have  been  mark 
ed  with  too  wide  and  destructive  a  waste  of  the  pioperty  of  our  fel 
low  citizens,  to  have  been  forgotten.  The  decree  of  Berlin  of 
Nov.  21st,  1806,  was  the  first  aggression  of  France  in  the  present 
war.  Eighteen  months  had  then  elapsed,  after  the  attack  made  by 
Great  Britain  on  our  neutral  trade,  with  the  colonies  of  France  and 
her  allies,  and  six  months  from  the  date  of  the  proclamation  of 
May,  1806.  Even  on  the  7th  January,  1807,  the  date  of  the  first 
British  order  in  council,  so  short  a  term  had  elapsed  after  the  Ber 
lin  decree,  that  it  was  hardly  possible  that  the  intelligence  of  it 
should  have  reached  the  United  States.  A  retaliation  which  is  to 
produce  its  effect,  by  operating  on  a  neutral  power,  ought  not  to 
be  resorted  to,  till  the  neutral  had  justified  it  by  a  culpable  acquies- 


.   . 

20 

feeiice  in  the  unlawful  act  of  the  other  belligerent.  It  ought  to  be 
delayed  until  after  sufficient  time  had  been  allowed  to  the  neutral 
to  remonstrate  against  the  measure  complained  of,  to  receive  an 
answer,  and  to  act  on  it,  which  had  not  been  done  in  the  present 
instance  ;  and  when  the  order  of  November  llth  was  issued,  it  is 
well  known  that  a  minister  of  France  had  declared  to  the  minister 
plenipotentiary  of  the  U.  States  at  Paris,  that  it  was  not  intended 
that  the  decree  of  Berlin  should  apply  to  the  United  States.  It  is 
equally  well  known,  that  no  American  vessel  had  then  been  con 
demned  under  it,  or  seizure  been  made,  with  which  the  British 
government  was  acquainted.  The  facts  prove  incontestibiy,  that 
the  measures  of  France,  however  unjustifiable  in  themselves,  were 
nothing  more  than  a  pretext  for  those  of  England.  And  of  the 
insufficiency  of  that  pretext,  ample  proof  has  already  been  afforded 
by  the  British  government  itself,  and  in  the  most  impressive 
form.  Although  it  was  declared  that  the  orders  in  council  were 
retaliatory  on  France  for  her  decrees,  it  was  also  declared,  and  in 
the  orders  themselves,  that  owing  to  the  superiority  of  trie  British 
navy,  by  which  the  fleets  of  France  and  her  allies  were  confined 
within  their  own  ports,  the  French  decrees  were  considered  only  as 
empty  threats. 

It  is  no  justification  of  the  wrongs  of  one  power,  that  the  like 
were  committed  by  another  ;  nor  ought  the  fact,  if  true,  to  have 
been  urged  by  either,  as  it  could  afford  no  proof  of  its  love  of  justice, 
of  its  magnanimity,  or  even  of  its  courage.  It  is  more  worthy  the 
government  of  a  great  nation,  to  relieve  than  to  assail  the  injured. 
Nor  can  a  repetition  of  the  wrongs  by  another  power  repair  the  vio 
lated  rights,  or  wounded  honor,  of  the  injured  party.  An  utter 
inability  alone  to  resist,  would  justify  a  quiet  surrender  of  our  rights, 
and  degrading  submission  to  the  will  of  others.  To  that  condition 
the  U.  S.  are  not  reduced,  nor  do  they  fear  it.  That  they  ever  con 
sented  to  discuss  with  either  power  the  misconduct  of  the  01  her,  is 
a  proof  of  their  love  of  peace,  of  their  moderation,  and  of  the  hope 
whicli  they  still  indulged  that  friendly  appeals  to  just  and  generous 
sentiments  would  not  be  made  to  them  in  vain.  But  the  motive 
was  mistaken,  if  their  forbearance  was  imputed,  either  to  the  want 
of  a  just  sensibility  to  their  wrongs,  or  of  a  determination,  if  suitable 
redress  was  not  obtained,  to  resent  them.  The  lime  has  now  ar 
rived  when  this  system  of  reasoning  must  cease.  It  would  be  in 
sulting  to  repeat  it.  It  would  be  degrading  to  hear  it.  The  U. 
States  must  act  as  an  independent  nation,  and  assert  their  rights 
and  avenge  their  wrongs,  according  to  their  own  estimate  of  them, 
with  the  party  who  commits  them,  holding  it  responsible  for  its 
own  misdeeds  unmitigated  by  those  of  another. 

For  the  difference  made  between  Great  Britain  and  France  by 
the  application  of  the  non-importation  act  against  England  only, 
the  motive  has  been  already  too  often  explained,  and  is  too  well 
known  to  require  further  illustration.  In  the  commercial  restric 
tions  to  which  the  United  States  resorted  as  an  evidence  of  their 
sensibility,  and  a  mild  retaliation  of  their  wrongs,  they  invariably- 
placed  both  powers  on  the  same  footing,  holding  out  to  each  in 


2.1 

respect  to  itself,  the  same  accommodation,  in  case  it  accepted  the 
condition  offered,  and  in  respect  to  the  other,  the  same  restraint  if 
it  refused.  Had  the  British  government  confirmed  the  arrange* 
ment,  which  was  entered  into  with  the  British  minister  in  1809, 
and  France  maintained  her  decrees,  with  France  would  the  United 
States  have  had  to  resist,  with  the  firmness  belonging  to  their 
character,  the  continued  violation  of  their  rights.  The  committee 
do  not  hesitate  to  declare  that  France  has  greatly  injured  the  Uni 
ted  Slates,  and  that  satisfactory  reparation  has  not  yet  been  made 
for  many  of  those  injuries.  But,  that  is  a  concern  which  the  Uni 
ted  States  will  look  to  and  settle  for  themselves.  The  high  char 
acter  of  the  American  people,  is  a  sufficient  pledge  to  the  world, 
that  they  will  not  fail  to  settle  it,  on  conditions  which  they  have 
a  right  to  claim. 

More  recently,  the  true  policy  of  the  British  government  to 
wards  the  United  States  has  been  completely  unfolded.  It  has 
been  publickly  declared  by  those  in  power,  that  the  orders  in  coun 
cil  should  not  be  repealed,  until  the  French  government  had  re 
voked  all  its  internal  restraints  on  the  British  commerce,  and  that 
the  trade  of  the  United  States,  with  France  and  her  allies,  should 
be  prohibited  until  Great  Britain  was  also  allowed  to  trade  with  them. 

By  this  declaration,  it  appears,  that  to  satisfy  the  pretensions  of 
the  British  government,  the  United  States  must  join  G.  Britain  in 
the  war  with  France,  and  prosecute  the  war,  until  France  should 
be  subdued,  for  without  her  subjugation,  it  were  in  vain  to  presume 
on  such  a  concession.  The  hostility  of  the  British  government  to 
these  States  has  been  still  further  disclosed.  It  has  been  made 
manifest  that  the  United  States  are  considered  by  it  as  the  com 
mercial  rival  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  their  prosperity  and  growth 
are  incompatible  with  her  welfare.  When  all  these  circum 
stances  are  taken  into  consideration,  it  is  impossible  for  your  com 
mittee  to  doubt  the  motives  which  have  governed  the  British  Min 
istry  in  all  its  measures  towards  the  United  States  since  the  year 
1805.  Equally  is  it  impossible  to  doubt,  longer,  the  course  which 
the  United  States  ought  to  pursue  towards  Great  Britain. 

From  this  view  of  the  multiplied  wrongs  of  the  British  government 
since  the  commencement  of  the  present  war,  is  must  be  evident  to 
the  impartial  world,  that  the  contest  which  is  now  forced  on  the 
United  States,  is  radically  a  contest  for  their  sovereignty  and  inde 
pendence.  Your  committee  will  not  enlarge  on  any  of  the  injuries, 
however  great,  which  have  had  a  transitory  effect.  They  wish  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  those  of  a  permanent  nature  only, 
which  intrench  so  deeply  on  our  most  important  rights,  and  wound 
so  extensively  and  vitally  our  best  interests,  as  could  not  fail  to  de 
prive  the  U.  States  of  the  principal  advantages  of  their  revolution, 
if  submitted  to.  The  control  of  our  commerce  by  G.  Britain,  in 
regulating  at  pleasure,  and  expelling  it  almost  from  the  ocean  ; 
the  oppressive  manner  in  which  these  regulations  have  been  carri 
ed  into  effect,  by  seizing  and  confiscating  such  of  our  vessels,  with. 
:i!uir  cargoes,  jts  were  said  to  have  violated  her  edicts,  often  without 
c 


22 

previous  warning  of  their  clanger  ;  the  impressment  of  our  citizens 
from  on  board  our  own  vessels,  on  the  high  seas,  and  elsewhere, 
and  holding  them  in  bondage  until  it  suited  the  convenience  of  their 
oppressors  to  deliver  them  up,  are  encroachments  of  that  high  and 
dangerous  tendency  which  could  not  fail  to  produce  that  pernicious 
effect,  n-^r  would  those  be  the  only  consequences  that  would  result 
from  it.  The  British  government  might,  for  a  while,  be  satisfied 
with  the  ascendancy  thus  gained  over  us,  but  its  pretensions  would 
soon  increase.  The  proof,  which  so  complete  and  disgraceful  a 
submission  to  its  authority,  would  afford  of  our  degeneracy,  could 
not  fail  to  inspire  confidence  that  there  was  no  limit  to  which  its 
usurpations  and  our  degradation  might  not  be  carried. 

Your  committee,  believing  that  the  freeborn  sons  of  America  are 
worthy  to  enjoy  the  liberty  which  their  fathers  purchased  at  the 
price  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure,  and  seeing,  in- the  measures 
adopted  by  G.  Britain,  a  course  commenced  and  persisted  in,  which 
might  lead  to  a  loss  of  national  character  arid  independence,  feel  no 
hesitation  in  advising  resistance  by  force,  in  which  the  Americans 
of  the  present  day  will  /trove  to  the  ene?ny  and  to  the  world,  that  we 
have  not  only  inherited  that  liberty  which  our  fathers  gave  us,  but 
also  the  WILL  and  POWER  to  maintain  it.  Relying  on  the  patriotism 
of  the  nation,  and  confidently  trusting  that  the  Lord  of  Hosts  will 
go  with  us  to  battle  in  a  righteous  cause,  and  crown  our  efforts  with 
success — your  committee  recommend  an  immediate  appeal  to 

ARMS. 


AN  ACT, 

Declaring  War  between  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and 
the  United  States  of  America  and  their  Territories. 

BE  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen 
tatives  of  the  U.  States  of  America  in  Co?igress  assem 
bled,  That  WAR  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  declared  to 
exist  between,  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  and  the  dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  and  their  territories  ;  and  that  the 
President  of  the  United  States  be,  and  he  is  hereby 
authorised  to  use  the  whole  land  and  naval  forces  of  the 
United  States  to  carry  the  same  into  effect,  and  to  issue 
to  private  armed  vessels  of  the  U.  States  commissions 
or  letters  of  marque  and  general  reprisal,  in  such  form 
as  he  shall  think  proper,  and  under  the  seal  of  the  U. 


23 

States,  against  the  vessels,  goods,  and  effects  of  the 
government  of  the  same  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  of  the  subjects  thereof. 

H.  CLAY, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

WILLIAM  H.  CRAWFORD, 
President  of  the  Senate  pro  tempore. 

June  18,  1812. — APPROVED, 

JAMES  MADISON. 


BY  THE  PRESIDENT 

OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 

. 

A  Proclamation. 

WHEREAS  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by 
virtue  of  the  constituted  Authority  vested  in  them, 
have  declared  by  their  act,  bearing  date  the  eighteenth 
day  of  the  present  month,  that  War  exists  between  the 
United  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  the 
dependencies  thereof,  and  the  United  States  of  America 
and  their  territories;  now  therefore  I,  JAMES  MADI 
SON,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  do 
hereby  proclaim  the  same  to  all  whom  it  may  concern  : 
and  I  do  specially  enjoin  on  all  persons  holding, offices, 
civil  or  military,  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
that  they  be  vigilant  and  zealous,  in  discharging  the  du 
ties  respectively  incident  thereto  :  And  I  do  moreover 
exhort  all  the  good  people  of  the  United  States,  as  they 
love  their  country  ;  as  they  value  the  precious  heritage 
derived  from  the  virtue  and  valor  of  their  fathers  ;  as  they 
feel  the  wrongs  which  have  forced  on  them  the  last  re 
sort  of  injured  nations  ;  and  as  they  consult  the  best 
means,  under  the  blessing  of  Divine  Providence,  of 
abridging  its  calamities  ;  that  they  exert  themselves  in 
preserving  order,  in  promoting  concord,  in  maintain 
ing  the  authority  and  the  efficacy  of  the  laws,and  in  sup- 
porting  and  invigorating  all  the  measures  which  may 


be  adopted  by  the  Constituted  Authorities,  for  obtain 
ing  a  speedy,  a  just,  and  an  honorable  peace. 

IN  TESTIMONY  WHEREOF,  I  have  hereunto 
set  my  hand,  and  caused  the  seal  of  the 
United  States  to  be  affixed  to  these  pres 
ents. 

(SEAL.) 

DONE  at  the  City  of  Washington,  the  nine 
teenth  day  of  June,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  twelve,  and  of  the  Indepen 
dence  of  the  United  States  the  thirty-sixth. 

(Signed)  JAMES  MADISON. 

By  the  President, 
(Signed)  TAMES  MONROE, 

Secretary  of  State. 


ADDRESS 

OF 

THE    SENATE. 


TO 


THE  PEOPLE 

OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


JL  HE  Senate  announce  to  their  Constituents,that  WAR 
exists  between  the  United  States,  and  Great  Britain  and 
her  dependencies.  This  last  resort  of  injured  nations  is, 
at  all  times,  a  most  serious  event  ;  at  the  present,  pecu 
liarly  solemn.  It  is  a  war  against  violence  and  rapacity, 
by  an  unoffending  nation,  aloof  from  the  vortex  and  col 
lisions  of  European  politics  ;  whose  utmost  ambition 
was  to  live  in  honourable  peace  with  the  world  ;  at 
home,  to  enjoy  the  equal  benefits  of  a  republican  gov 
ernment,  and  abroad,  to  carry  the  productions  of  its  soil 
and  industry  in  the  usual  channels  of  legitimate  com 
merce. 

We  will  not  enter  into  a  detail  of  the  injuries  inflicted 
on  us,  nor  of  the  flimsy  pretexts  by  which  she  has  af 
fected  to  justify  her  outrages  ;  it  is  sufficient  to  say, 
that  England  no  longer  pretends  to  disguise  her  ambi 
tious  designs,  under  the  pretence  of  retaliation  on  her 
enemy.  She  asserts  her  unbounded  right  to  dominion, 
only  because  she  assumes  unbounded  power  :  She  an 
nexes  conditions  to  the  repeal  of  her  orders,  which  she 
knows  we  have  no  right  to  require  of  her  enemy  ; 
which  she  knows  are  impossible  :  thus  adding  mockery 
to  her  long  train  of  perpetrated  injuries.  With  the  boM- 


ness  of  the  highwayman,  she  has,  at  last,  stripped  the 
mask  from  violence,  and  vindicates  her  aggressions  and 

impressments  on  the  only    plea   of    tyrants that    of 

whim    and  convenience.     The  same  plea  extends  to  the 
weltering  victim  of  savage  barbarity  on  our  frontiers. 

It  was  not  sufficient  that  we  were  remote  from  Eu 
ropean  politics,  and  courted  peace  under  every  sacri 
fice  ;  acquiesced  in  minor  injuries  ;  remonstrated 
against  those  of  a  deeper  dye  ;  forebore,  until  forbear 
ance  became  pusillanimity  ;  and  finally  retired  from 
the  scene  of  controversy  with  the  delusive  hope,  that  a 
spirit  of  moderation  might  succeed  that  of  violence  and 
rapine.  We  were  hunted  on  the  ocean  ;  our  property 
was  seized  upon  by  the  convulsive  grasp  of  our  now 
open  and  acknowledged  enemy,  and  our  citizens  forced 
into  a  cruel  and  ignominious  vassalage. — And  when  we 
retired,  we  were  pursued  to  the  threshold  of  our  territo 
ry  ;  outrages  of  an  enormous  cast  perpetrated  incur 
bays  nnd  harbors  ;  the  tomahawk  of  the  savage  uplift 
ed  against  the  parent,  the  wife,  the  infant,  on  our  fron 
tiers  ;  and  spies  and  incendiaries  sent  into  the  bosom  of 
c\:r  country  to  plot  with  the  desperate  and  ambitious  the 
dismemberment  of  our  government,  and  involve  us  in 
all  th-j  horrors  of  a  civil  war. 

We  have  sought  in  vain  for  the  motives  of  this  horrible 
warfare.  WhatBritish  subject  has  ever  been  personally  in- 
j -.;;  ed  by  America  ?  What  British  property  has  ever  been 
coruscated  or  condemned  ?  What  insult  has  ever  been 
offered  to  the  ensigns  of  national  authority  ?  In  a  time 
of  profound  peace, when  we  were  supplying  their  citizens 
with  the  products  of  our  soil,  and  replenishing  their  cof 
fers  by  a  lucrative  commerce  ;  with  no  disputes  con 
cerning  territory  ;  with  no  armies  or  navies  to  excite 
their  national  jealousy  ;  we  have  experienced  injuries 
and  outrages,  at  which  the  humanity  of  modern  warfare 
revolts. 

The  Constituted  Authorities  of  the  United  States,  in 
Congress  assembled,  submitting  the  justice  of  their 
cause  to  the  God  of  Battles,have  at  length  declared  WAR 
against  this  implacable  foe  : — A  WAR  for  the  protection 
of  commerce  :—A  WAR  for  the  Liberties  of  our  Citi- 


•47 

zens  i — ^  WAR^/or  our  National  Sovereignty  and  Inde 
pendence  : — A  WAR  for  our  Republican  Form  of  Gov 
ernment,  against  the  machinations  of  despotism. 

The  Senate  affect  not  to  disguise  from  their  Constitu 
ents,  that  the  times  are  times  of  peril.  The  ENEMIES 
of  REPUBLICS  are  on  the  alert.  The  present  is 
deemed  the  favorable  time  for  the  DISMEMBERMENT  of 
the  UNION,  that  favorite  project  of  the  British  Govern 
ment,  which  has  been  attempted  by  their  authorized 
agent  ;  and  we  have  alarming  proofs  is  countenanced 
and  cherished  by  citizens  of  this  government.  YES  : 
we  say  with  assurance,  that  a  deep  and  deadly  design  is 
formed  against  our  happy  Union  :  We  say  it  from  con 
viction  forced  on  our  minds  ;  from  declarations  from 
responsible  sources  ;  from  intrigues  that  have  existed 
between  the  ENEMIES  of  RE  PUBLICS  and  an  authorized 
British  spy  ;  and  from  a  settled  determination  in  indi 
viduals  to  oppose  the  Government  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  war  now  forced  on  us. 

The  Senate  will  not  assert  that  there  exists  a  party, 
(in  the  two  grand  divisions  in  which  parties  are  gene 
rally  divided  in  the  United  States,  and  on  which  the 
Senate  are  reluctantly  compelled  to  animadvert,)  which 
gives  countenance  to  such  nefarious  projects.  The 
great  body  of  the  people  are  Americans.  It  is  the  Ene 
mies  of  Republics,  of  whom  we  speak.  Monarchists  in 
principle  and  by  profession  ;  who  disguise  not  their  en 
mity  to  our  happy  Government,  and  do  not  conceal  their 
intention  to  embrace  the  opportunity  of  popular  disaf 
fection  and  commotion,  to  attempt  a  Revolution. 
Deeply  impressed  with  the  solemnity  of  the  crisis,  and 
with  the  dangers  attendant  on  our  beloved  country, 
as  well  from  our  declared  enemy  as  our  intestine  foes, 
the  Senate  have  contemplated  the  duties,  which,  as 
members  of  the  social  compact,  each  individual  owes  to 
his  country,  and  they  declare  them  to  be  a  firm  support 
of  the  Government  of  their  choice.  The  rightful  au 
thority  has  decreed.  Opposition  must  cease  ;  He  thai: 
is  not  for  his  country,  is  against  it.  The  precedents  on 
record  will  serve  for  your  guide.  When  engaged  with 
this  same  enerav,  our  fathers  obeved  the  calls  of  their 


•country,  expressed  through  the  authority  of  their 
edicts.  In  imitation  of  their  example,  let  the  laws  every 
where  be  obeyed  with  the  most  prompt  alacrity  ;  let  the 
Constituted  Authorities  be  aided  by  the  patriotic  efforts 
of  individuals  ; — let  the  Friends  of  the  Government  rally, 
under  Committees  of  Public  Safety,  in  each  Town,  Dis 
trict,  and  Plantation  ;  let  a  common  center  be  formed  by 
a  Committee  in  each  County,  that  seasonable  information 
may  be  given  of  every  movement  of  the  enemy.  Let 
our  young  men,  who  compose  the  Militia,  be  ready  to 
march  at  a  moment's  warning  to  any  part  of  our  shores 
in  defence  of  our  coast. — These  precautions  are  ren 
dered  necessary  against  our  external  foe,  and  the  inter 
nal  machinations  she  may  again  attempt.  These  meas 
ures  are  sanctified  by  the  example  of  our  fathers  in  our 
revolutionary  struggle.  And  relying  on  the  patriotism 
of  the  whole  People,  let  us  commit  our  cause  to  the 
God  of  Battles,  and  implore  his  aid  and  success  in  the 
preservation  of  our  dearest  rights  and  privileges. 

In  Senate,  June  26,  1812. 

Read  and  accepted. 

SAMUEL  DANA,  President. 


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Pamphlet 
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Gaylo,  d  Bros..  Inc. 
Stockton,  Calif. 
T-M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


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M21970 


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